The purpose of this blog is to provide a holding, attuned, and provocative space for the mysteries of your heart to unfold. All of you is welcome here, in all of your glory - the painful, the joyous, the heartbroken, and the weary. The invitation is to see your entire life as an expression of high-voltage, creative guidance, and for you to offer yourself to the endless and infinite dimension of love that is emerging within and around you right now.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

The price of entry is everything

It can be so liberating to discover that it takes
absolutely no effort be what you are. But this realization is one that is very
counter-instinctual and requires a movement into the unknown. Things are very
naked here, both empty (of concept) and pregnant (with actuality)
simultaneously. We have stepped outside of a dream and into a field of the
actual, where egoic process is no longer being held together. Here there is no
longer any reference point which we can refer back to. In the place of
"me" is love. And this love, while sometimes very sweet, is infinite
and the totality of space in which the qualities of transformation are pouring
through. Love will make use of the relative world, at times in a very
unrelenting and uncompromising way, to unfold, illuminate, and transform all
that it touches.

We see that we aren't able to take anything with us into this field, into this
very transparent and vibrating crucible of love. The price of entry is
everything; all must be left behind - our hopes, our dreams, our conclusions,
our concepts, our spiritual fantasies, and our beloved identities, including
the most cherished identity of all - the one of the "me" who has
"become awakened." In fact, we see that this very concept itself is
the guardian of the portal which leads all the way inside the raging fires of
love. It takes tremendous effort to keep alive the character of "me"
- whether in gross, relative sorts of ways or in a more subtle, spiritual ways
- these movements are one and the same. If we are foolish enough to allow this
life to be organized around love, nothing will ever be the same. Our familiar
reference points will vanish into emptiness, and the ground will fall away. We
might not really know anything any longer. We might not be sure of anything,
except that this heart is at risk of breaking open in *any* moment. All that
seems certain is that we will remain forever in awe of love and its movement.

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About Me

I am a psychotherapist, author, and teacher, working with individuals and groups worldwide. My latest book, The Path is Everywhere, is available in paperback and Kindle editions.To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website.

I have a PhD in psychology, where my research interests included
contemporary psychodynamic/ relational theory as well as mindfulness-based, contemplative approaches to psychological healing and spiritual transformation. I have long been interested in the dialogue
between Western, developmental and meditative methods of
inquiry and practice.

I worked in the publishing field for over 24 years, most recently Director of Professional Studies for Sounds True, where I organized online training for mental health professionals seeking to deepen their practice in areas such as attachment, trauma, neuroscience, and mindfulness.